Am I MAXING out my graphics card??

[Mac-key]

I got a mid-09 13MBP (check my sig). I use final cut pro on a regular basis, BUT lately I've been using the color suite and lots of Motion. I've noticed Motion DRINKS my memory. And I'm assuming it is maxing out my graphics card as well.

Today I started messing with some 3D stuff, and BOOM - suddenly the screen went all black and flickery like, except for the top. I could still see my tool bar, but my computer would not respond. I had to kill the power and reboot. It seems to be working fine now.

BUT just curious to get your thoughts? has that happened to anyone here? do you think my graphics card just freaked?

I'm about to upgrade to 8GB of ram, but I just think when you use the full compliment of editing software that Final Cut Studio offers it takes a hoss of a machine to handle it.

 

[chrono1081]

It sounds more just like a graphical glitch to me. Sometimes if your machine is sitting on a bed or a surface where it doesn't get enough ventilation and you do some really intensive stuff on it it can happen. Its rare but it happens. Its often heat related.

Also the 8 gigs will help a lot. When you do max out your system under normal circumstances stuff will just run pretty slow. I've maxed out the two machines in my sig before many times (yep..maxed out that mac pro lol) and never got any graphical glitches.